Wasting Food in a Hungry World

Published by Justin - 2015-06-19

Bjorn Lomborg’s newest contribution to Project Syndicate discusses the topic of ‘food security’ and smart ways the post-2015 development agenda can help.

One-quarter of all the food in the world is lost each year, owing to inefficient harvesting, inadequate storage, and wastage in the kitchen. Halve that waste, and the world could feed an extra billion people – and make hunger yesterday’s problem.

The extent of food loss is particularly galling in view of a new global study on food security from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. According to the FAO, 57 developing countries have failed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of hungry people by this year. One in every nine people on the planet – 795 million in all – still goes to sleep hungry.